Follow the author of this article

Follow the topics within this article

Drug dealers are increasingly using social media sites such as Instagram and Snapchat to sell illegal substances to young people, experts have warned.

Youth workers said the “disturbing” trend had rapidly accelerated within the last 18 months, with dealers using the platform to target children as young as 13.

They expressed fears that young people were buying drugs from strangers, who did not care about their welfare, as well as meeting up with people they did not know.

Nick Hickmott, the early intervention lead for Young Addaction, the youth arm of the largest drug and alcohol charity, told the Telegraph that dozens of cannabis communities were run via Instagram whilst those buying other substances such as pills and powers had absolutely no way of knowing what the product really was.

“Buying drugs via social media means you are just believing the profile and either sending money blindly or meeting a stranger,” he said.

Drug dealers use hashtags and emojis to indicate which drugs they sell and share images of the substances.

They provide alternative contact details which allow most deals to then take place on other platforms such as the encrypted messenger application Wickr, which is untraceable by the authorities.

Dealers are increasingly using social media sites such as Instagram and Snapchat, it is claimedCredit:
Thomas White/Reuters

Mr Hickmott added: “With cannabis, there has been an attempt to regulate the illicit market by having a system in which people can buy from vendors and be guaranteed a high quality product.

“In reality though, there is still a lot of violence, robbery and non delivery of goods in this so called ‘community’ because there is essentially no come back other than being vilified on Instagram, where identities are concealed anyway.”

Mr Hickmott told the Guardian that almost all the young people they worked with, most of whom are teenagers, now talked about the phenomenon.

“The reason we are seeing this rise is because of the growth of social media,” he said.

“Young people are just becoming more dependent on these platforms now as they are heavily integrated into all aspects of their life and so they are being used for more risk-taking behaviour.

“Essentially, if a dealer knows you, they are far less likely to want to see you ripped off or end up in hospital … If you are buying drugs on Instagram, for example, you are getting them from a stranger and the deals might involve meeting up in person.”

Dealers are increasingly using social media sites such as Instagram and Snapchat, it is claimedCredit:
Matthew Fearn/PA

He said party drugs such as MDMA and ecstasy were particularly prevalent online but that benzodiazepines such as Xanax were also sold.

Ian Hamilton, a lecturer in mental health at York University, said: “I would be in favour of social media networks taking the problem more seriously. They recently announced that they were putting a lot of resource cracking down on child exploitation online, which is good, but we need to make sure that there are also efforts to eliminate drug sales.”

Instagram said it encouraged people to report any content that could violate its guidelines. A spokesperson said: “The Instagram community must follow the law and the sale of illegal or prescription drugs, even if legal in a specific region, is not allowed. Our global review team checks these reports 24/7, and as soon as we are made aware of violating content we work quickly to remove it.”

Snapchat also said it took its responsibility to create a safe and secure experience seriously and had an active trust and safety team that responded to reports and concerns within 24 hours.

“There is no place for selling drugs on Snapchat. We encourage anyone who sees something like this anywhere to always report it,” a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile Facebook has reacted angrily after Ben Wallace, the Security Minister, suggested that web companies were putting profit before safety.

He said "patience is running out fast" with web companies who do not help the fight against terrorism, adding: “If they continue to be less than co-operative, we should look at things like tax as a way of incentivising them or compensating for their inaction”.

But critics fear internet companies could simply move their money abroad if the Government introduces a potential terror tax to crackdown on the spread of extremist material online.

Keith Simpson, a senior Tory MP and member of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, said taxing companies if they fail to cooperate with efforts to fight terrorism was an “attention grabber headline” but would be difficult to enforce.

Simon Milner, of Facebook, said: “Mr Wallace is wrong to say that we put profit before safety, especially in the fight against terrorism.

We’ve invested millions of pounds in people and technology to identify and remove terrorist content.”